October 16, 2010- Hmmm our match versus Volero. The words frustrating, disappointment and mental disconnect come to mind when trying to put my feelings into a complete thought . Okay, okay... they are the # 1 team in the league. THey have good athletes. Their hitting warmup is pretty intimidating, but so is mine. They totally marched into the Super Cup like they were the best volleyballers in the world. If you hadnt known any better you might have believed that. WEll at least a lot of people I talked to sounded like it. They have a swagger, an attitude... its like "Yeah, were good.." And it wasnt just because they all had on the same thing or could hit the ball on the 10 ft line or the fact that when facing them at the net they all look like 7 foot monsters ( fo reals... the average height on that team looks like 6'1 or 186 cm). They have this team coesiveness. They warm up together doing the exact same thing, which begs to mention that they probably do that in practice as well. THey hit in the game like they do in warmups. I dont do that. And more importantly, in the game they go after balls like they want it. Nothing stops them from getting to anything unless its a million feet away. All these factors lets me know off the bat that they train hard as hell on fundamentals and repetition. Athletic abiltity is just an added bonus for them. They come on the court and dare you to bring your "A" game because they are just sitting there waiting for it. And that kind of concentration, court awareness, mental toughness and fundamentals can only be trained in practice. And I really hate say it cuz its kind of cliché but, you Practice like you PLay, and you Play like you Practice.
Athletics is not just about the physical part, its so much more about the mental part. Again athetic ability is an extra bonus in certain situations, but will is soooo important. Thats why you practice or just anybody could get out and attempt to play in any ole league and say they were an athlete. When you think you are training your muscles, you are really training your mind at the same time. Its like shooting a free throw. Good free throw shooters have a routine. Jalen Rose used to spin the ball in his hands 5 times before shooting, And Jeff Hornacek used to rub his forehead ( a message to his wife and kids) before shooting. Its about creating a routine and repeating it over and over. Training your mind to do the exact same thing everytime is called discipline. In the end my point is when you dont go for a ball in practice or go hard in certain situations in practice, you wont do so in the game because you are not used to doing so.
I feel like Volero is a team that is fundamentally sound because they train like that, they warm up like that and then they play like that. It comes full circle. I mean personally I dont know what the situation is on their team, but I know that type of discipline does not come outta no where. A lot of times in the game when you cannot execute, its because there is no discipline. That is basically training your mind to do something that it will tell your body to do later.
Okay so forget that they look like a bunch of army robots on the other side. The best way to beat a team like this is to go at them. Take it to them hard and we didnt do that. We stood back on our heels waiting for them to make the mistake instead of taking matters into our own hands. A team like that is not going to give you an opportunity to do so, that is why you have to strike from the jump. On a personal note last night I was still distraught after another game. I feel like its been four matches and I still have not contributed or had an impact in any of those games. Sure I have had 2 +10 block matches, which is incredible, but offensively I am lost out there and I feel no connection. Last night I said, " I work too hard to come out here and play like this ." But am I really? I have to change something up or it will be a disappointing 5 games which will lead to a disappointing season. That will suck because I love Switzerland.
Next game is at home versus Schaffhassen.
"Success is having and Excellence is being... You have success, but if you want to continue to have it at a high level, you better be excellent." - Brad Stevens
Athletics is not just about the physical part, its so much more about the mental part. Again athetic ability is an extra bonus in certain situations, but will is soooo important. Thats why you practice or just anybody could get out and attempt to play in any ole league and say they were an athlete. When you think you are training your muscles, you are really training your mind at the same time. Its like shooting a free throw. Good free throw shooters have a routine. Jalen Rose used to spin the ball in his hands 5 times before shooting, And Jeff Hornacek used to rub his forehead ( a message to his wife and kids) before shooting. Its about creating a routine and repeating it over and over. Training your mind to do the exact same thing everytime is called discipline. In the end my point is when you dont go for a ball in practice or go hard in certain situations in practice, you wont do so in the game because you are not used to doing so.
I feel like Volero is a team that is fundamentally sound because they train like that, they warm up like that and then they play like that. It comes full circle. I mean personally I dont know what the situation is on their team, but I know that type of discipline does not come outta no where. A lot of times in the game when you cannot execute, its because there is no discipline. That is basically training your mind to do something that it will tell your body to do later.
Okay so forget that they look like a bunch of army robots on the other side. The best way to beat a team like this is to go at them. Take it to them hard and we didnt do that. We stood back on our heels waiting for them to make the mistake instead of taking matters into our own hands. A team like that is not going to give you an opportunity to do so, that is why you have to strike from the jump. On a personal note last night I was still distraught after another game. I feel like its been four matches and I still have not contributed or had an impact in any of those games. Sure I have had 2 +10 block matches, which is incredible, but offensively I am lost out there and I feel no connection. Last night I said, " I work too hard to come out here and play like this ." But am I really? I have to change something up or it will be a disappointing 5 games which will lead to a disappointing season. That will suck because I love Switzerland.
Next game is at home versus Schaffhassen.
"Success is having and Excellence is being... You have success, but if you want to continue to have it at a high level, you better be excellent." - Brad Stevens
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